NEWS

Earlier today ASIC released Report 583 – Review of exchange traded products (ETPs), which sets out the findings and recommendations of ASIC’s comprehensive review of ETPs in Australia. This report will be of interest to issuers and market operators of ETPs, along with retail investors. Overall, the report found that the market is performing well,…

ASIC has released its independent report (the Report) in respect to RG 97 which it commissioned on 1 November 2017 in response to strong feedback from industry regarding challenges associated with the implementation of RG 97 and ASIC Class Order CO 14/1252. The author of the report, Mr Darren McShane engaged more than 120 industry…

The Government today released the second tranche of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle) Bill 2018 (CCIV Bill) for public consultation. The measure complements the Asia Region Funds Passport initiative which we previously reported on, and which passed the Parliament on 28 June 2018. We also previously reported on the release of tranche…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report this week (16 July 2018), addressing its, and related standard setting bodies work on crypto-assets, which will be delivered to the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors for their meeting in Buenos Aires on 21-22 July. The potential ramifications of the report extend even further given the…

The long awaited passage of the Corporations Amendment (Asia Region Funds Passport) Bill, which gives effect to the Passport’s Memorandum of Cooperation signed in 2016 by Australia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Thailand, now has an accompanying set of regulations and related explanatory material open for consultation from today. Legislation to establish the Asia Region…

Further to our news release earlier in March this year drawing clients’ attention to the Government’s release of a package of policy measures intended to address taxation bias towards foreign investors under certain stapled structures, Treasury has today released the next instalment of the package outlining the proposed conditions stapled entities must comply with to…

The importance of foreign investment in Australia cannot be overstated given it accounts for about 4% of GDP. It is arguably not surprising given Australia is the only country in the developed world to have achieved 27 years of uninterrupted economic growth. In addition to the financial contribution to our standard of living, it brings…

On 13 June 2018, Treasury released for public consultation the first tranche of the draft Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle (CCIV) Bill 2018 (“the Bill”) which according to The Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP “will allow Australian fund managers to market to participating Asian financial markets using a well-recognised corporate structure vehicle”. Whether or not such an objective…

Treasury has invited submissions on the draft AMIT Technical Amendments Bill (draft Bill) and explanatory materials (explanatory materials) to assist them in their objective to ensure that the new tax system for MITs operates as intended. These amendments were foreshadowed almost a year ago (19 July 2017) by the Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP, Minister for Revenue…

There has already been a significant amount of commentary and speculation about the potential ramifications of ASIC’s new CP 301 Foreign financial services providers (CP 301) given it represents a clear departure from ASIC’s historical approach to the regulation of foreign financial services providers (FFSPs), which to date has prioritised the facilitation of cross-border investment…